Ultimaker Extended 2+

Engineered to perform, the Ultimaker 2+ is reliable, efficient, and user-friendly. Thanks to its support of a wide range of materials, it’s suitable for a huge variety of applications, from prototypes to customized tools. It’s a great all-around 3D printer that delivers consistent results.

Task Objective

The main objective of this group task was to find methods to test the 3D printer to check its capabilities and efficiency in printing in order to better understand the concept of 3D printing. The 3D printer we worked on was Ultimaker 2 Extended +.

Steps of the testing process of Ultimaker 2 Extended +

At first, we went through different ideas to test the printer including:

Looking up the printer's specifications and printing properties on the website for Ultimaker.
Going through the printer's user manual to understand how it works and what can be the best method for testing

However, we did further researching which led us to "FabAcademy" website where we found one of the members who tested an Ultimaker 3D printer and did so using a specific test file of a complex design that is small in size and containing various geometries. Also, he did this test several times with different print qualities (low, normal, and high). Therefore, we decided to go this route and downloaded all the required files to start testing.

The testing process of the 3D printer was divided into three main steps: (a) Preparing the test file on "Ultimaker Cura", (b) 3D Printing the design, and (c) Comparing between the 3D printed design and test file parameters.

a)Preparing the test file on "Ultimaker Cura":

After we downloaded the test file, which had a ".stl" extension, we had to work with it on a slicer supported by Ultimaker called "Ultimaker Cura 3.4.1" that converts the extension of the file from ".stl" to ".gcode" so that the file is converted to a gcode file which is placed on an SD Card and read by the 3D printer to execute the design. The steps of handling with the test file on Cura were as follows:

1.Open "Ultimaker Cura 3.4.1"

2.Open the chosen file by clicking "File", choose "Open File(s)", navigate for your test file (.stl), and click "Open".

3. After importing the file to Cura, choose the printer model to be "Ultimaker 2 Extended +", choose the material to be "PLA", and choose the nozzle width to be "0.4mm" which is the default width.

4. In the "Print Setup" part keep the Recommended Settings with layer height equal to 0.1 and infill percentage equal to 20%. (Note: Do not click "Generate Support" as this a test part that shouldn't be printed with supports!)

5. To start slicing the file (converting it to gcode), click "Prepare".

6. After the slicing is done, you can choose Layer View, shown in the figures below, to see how the printer will build the part as in this view you have tick boxes to show the infill, shell, helpers/ supports, travels, and detailed layers along with the top and bottom layers too.

7. Click "Save to File" and save the design file with .gcode extension in the place you want.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

b) 3D Printing the design:

As stated before, the printer we used was "Ultimaker 2 Extended +" and the material used for printing was "PLA" abbreviated for Polylactic Acid which is a plastic-type material that has many uses in the digital fabrication field, especially 3D printing, in addition to being non-biodegradable making it harmless for human usage. The steps of printing the design included the following:

1. Upload the gcode extension file on the SD card of the printer, shown in the following figure, and insert the card inside the printer.

2. Choose the file to be printed from the list that appears on the small screen at the bottom of the printer. We choose our file "test1" then press "print" and the printer will start printing automatically as shown in the figures below.

3. Wait for the printer to heat up the bed and extruder to their set temperature, which is detected by a heat sensor prior to printing, as shown in the figure.

4. Once heating is done, the bed is leveled up in the z direction through a leveling screw and printing commences. We waited and kept close watch on the part while being printed, to handle and troubleshoot any problem that might occur, and took photos for different phases of the printing process as shown in the following figures.

5. When printing finishes, the bed levels down again and starts cooling. Wait for the cooling process, and then you are ready to receive your part as shown in figure.

6. Finally, use the printing tools to remove the base raft and supports, if there is any, and you have your final cleaned up part as shown. J

8

C) Comparing between the 3D printed design and test file parameters:

In this part, we compared between the printed out design and the test file by accurately measuring different dimensions on the printed part using a "Vernier Caliper", as shown in the figure below, and previously knowing the dimensions and parameters of the test file.

Using this table below, taken from the member in "FabAcademy" who carried out this test before, we were able to compare between the test file parameters and the test result of the part printed on Ultimaker 2 Extended +.